School board holds first post-election meeting

The Wrangell School Board held its first meeting since the local election on Oct. 2.

The election saw two people, Aaron Angerman and Annya Ritchie, become new members of the board. Board member Aleisha Mollen was also re-elected to her position.

The first order of business on the agenda was the reorganization of the school board. Mollen was unanimously selected to serve as the board president, board member Jessica Rooney was selected to be the vice president, and Angerman was selected to be the board secretary.

"I was really impressed by the turnout, the voter turnout," Angerman said about the election. "Hopefully that's something we can continue ... There's no reason we can't have numbers like that all the time."

Mollen welcomed the new school board members, and encouraged them to come to her if they ever had questions. She also recognized Georgianna Buhler, a former school board member who recently retired, for her service to the community.

The school board heard several public comments during their meeting. One came from Ryan Howe, who came to invite the school board to a Christmas "reading event" on Dec. 11. Miki Angerman also came before the board to deliver a letter, on behalf of several Evergreen Elementary School teachers. The letter was for Superintendent Debbe Lancaster, thanking her for the recent hire of the elementary school's new principal.

"We are writing you with the intent of expressing our unanimous support and appreciation for the Evergreen Elementary School principal, Virginia Tulley," she read. "She has been a great addition to the school team and we are happy with how she is leading."

Kellan Eagle, student body president at Wrangell High School gave a student representative report which listed a few concerns among the student government, as well as some suggestions on how to handle said concerns. One issue listed was parking congestion around the high school, especially on game days and other public events. The report suggested painting parking lines along the parallel parking zones on Reid Street. A second concern regarded lunchtime, which Eagle said was too short at 35 minutes long. He requested that the board look into extending lunchtime by 10 to 15 minutes.

During the meeting, Diane O'Brien was appointed to the curriculum standing committe and Kaelene Harrison was approved to be hired as an assistant coach to the middle school girls' basketball team. Angerman, Buhler, Lancaster, and Drew Larrabbee were appointed to the budget standing committee.

Other items handled in the meeting include approval of the sale of laptops to retiring staff members and a discussion of upcoming events and future agenda items.

Mollen was also recognized for receiving an AASB Excellence Boardsmanship Award, and Rooney was recognized for receiving an AASB Basic Boardsmanship Award.